Unfathomable
by TheMoldyLunchbox
Summary: My name is Kono Himura. My clan was murdered in front of my eyes, and I left my dying mother behind to save myself. All in a days work, right? But considering I live in a world of warring nations and ninjas, I figure my life could get much MUCH worse. Lady luck hasn't let me down yet though, and I have no problem running her dry. Shikamaru/OC


**A/N: Hello All, after lurking around many a fanfiction website for *cough* 7 years *cough* I've decided to publish my own. There is a distinct lack of Shikamaru/OC fanfiction, and boy do I crave that mineral. Anyways, this is my first time writing a fic **_**ever. **_**So... please be sweet to me? lol anyways, let me know what you all think! I'm still testing out the waters and honing a writing style. I've left this chapter purposely a little vague as to give a sense of what the characters are feeling. Please enjoy! - Eve**

**P.S. I don't have a beta reader, we die like men.**

**Prologue:**

**Good-bye and Hello**

**Part 1**

(2,114 words)

When I woke up, I expected to open my eyes to a vision of kaleidoscope colors from sun-rays filtering through layers of colored fabric and reflecting off small glass sculptures hanging from the beams. My mornings were always full of rainbows. With the smell of earth, sweat, and cooking meat on a morning fire. With laughter and chakra signatures in a frenzy around home camp. With my people ready to start another day.

I would stretch lazily and debate joining in on the acrobatic training for the day. Kaasan would drag me from bed; chiding and making me join the others,

"_Mou, you KNOW you have to practice today, or you'll be old and creaking like me!"_

Only, there was no laughter. No sun streaming through gossamer fabric. As I gaze up through the foliage above, I feel my Aunts' exhausted chakra beside me. Her back is against mine providing a needed grounding sensation as I am struck with the memories of how I came into this situation.

—

**12 hours earlier**

"_Kono, don't worry about us. Just go grab Aunt Maya and get to safety. I'll meet you along the road"_

_Coal eyes do not stray from the enemy in front of her, not for a second. If the tanto sword raised in a defensive position doesn't scream 'stay back or I'm taking you down' then those eyes, hard as the packed earth beneath our feet, are a red flag bearing warning._

"_What?! I can't jus—"_

"_Yes__**. **__You _can_. I'll be fine. Go now and get to safety! The rest of the caravan should be at the next outpost."_

'_Lie'_

_Her breath is coming in short pants. As I look closer, I see a crimson sheen in my mother's dark hair. One more blow to the head and she'll be down._

"_Oh? Your brat? I know your little __**circus act**__ breeds, but I didn't expect them to be so pretty," the group facing us ripples in laughter and jeering. The woman who spoke comes forward with confident strides. "Maybe if he survives this, I'll keep him as a trophy."_

_Her chakra is slippery and dark. Like an oil spill over silk, slowly wrapping around you until you're smothered._

_It's hard to breathe._

'_Why? What reason do they have for this.. Massacre?'_

_Bodies are strewn around me, young and old. Clay pots are shattered and tents are slashed, the once vibrant colors of my home are stained with dirt and other fluids I don't even want to process right now._

_Mother shifts again putting her back to me, creating a metaphorical wall and spits at the woman_

"_Over my dead body." She is snarling now, and I can see in my mind the fierce face the dons, one of a mother protecting her cub. "My clan has no business with you. You have slain many today unprovoked. What is your reason for this bloodshed?!"_

_I gaze at her back, and numbly take in the sweat clinging to her dark skin. The once brightly dyed and layered fabrics that made her clothes are now dulled with dirt, blood and ash. The bangles on her toned mocha arms clink in harmony with the baubles and small jewels strung through her long, now matted hair. There are cuts on her thighs and on her bicep, seeping through layers of fabric to splash on her bare feet. 'Her femoral artery and brachial arteries,' my mind supplies, 'Forget one more blow to the head..she only has minutes before death.' I'm choking back tears now, gritting my teeth._

_These people aren't just ordinary bandits then.._

_Letting out a shaky breath, I look past my mother at their group... more of a formation, held loosely._

_A group of mercenaries then? Who would call out a hit on us? What reason would garner the extermination of a group such as ours? We are just performers! I can feel my heart accelerating in tandem with my thoughts whirling and—_

"_**Kono. Now.**__"_

_If I had not spend the past 10 years of my life in the presence of her, I would have missed the slight tremble and slurring of her words._

_Shit. I'm wasting time! She's stalling for me._

_So I spread my sense outwards, and let out a sob. It's __**empty. **__No one in my range for thousands of feet..._

_I can feel blood dripping down from my nose and tears running down my cheeks as I push my gift farther than I've ever done since the beginning of my training. I hear the clash of blades dull in my ears as I sweep over miles of dense forest in my mind, pushing farther and farther— THERE,_

_It's dimming, and fast. I need to be __**faster**__._

_I take a final look at our attackers, who are spreading out, tauntingly but still cautiously approaching my now laboring mother, and bolt towards the distressed and sluggish thrum of my aunt._

_That was the last time I saw her._

—

**Present**

Groaning, I sit up and immediately regret it.

Ouch.

The small clearing in the dense shrubbery is enough to fit my Aunt and I crammed together. There is a stream to our left, peeking through a hole in the bushes, and dense woods surrounding us on the remaining three sides.

Rubbing my face, I feel the remnants of blood, salt and grime left on me. It's not just my face either. As I glance down, I take stock of my complete state of utter _filth _and make a quick decision to wash up_._

_Guess it's time for a bath, luckily the river runs through the country. When we start moving again, we can follow it to civilization._

My mind halts right there. _Camp_. Bodies, mom, emptyempty_empty. 'Could I really leave it behind like that?'_

Ignoring the groans of my limbs, I scramble up and over to the river and violently empty the contents of my stomach.

M-mom is dead. Dead. There's no changing that. '_Too much blood lost,' _Right. Lock that shit up for now. Feelings have no place in survival. Think logically, you can melt down later.. 'S_he wouldn't have made it one swing in her condition. There's nothing you could've done.' _

A good thing I did leave when I did. When I found Aunty, her chakra was so low; I almost lost it a few times. There was a body next to her as well, her attacker most likely. Her throat was ripped out...

I retch again, dry heaving for a few moments

Wiping my mouth, I seek out my Aunt, desperately looking at the rise and fall of her chest as she sleeps. She looks like a step from deaths door— rich skin tone now sallow, sweat beading on her brow, bloodstains on the makeshift bandaging I made out of my shirt using her hunting knife.

Despite her appearance, her signature is stable. Weak, but stable nonetheless.

I stumble over to her and grasp her shoulders and _haul,_ huffing and puffing, but dragging her to the river until she rests right next to it.

As I go through the motions of unwrapping her bandages, and replacing them with the remainder of the strips of my shirt, I think back to our clan's nomadic living style and mentally thank it for helping me with basic survival skills as I tie up the last of Aunt Maya's midsection. I strip off my clothes, grab the bandages and make towards the water to clean myself up and plan for the hardships ahead

—

**POV change— Maya**

_Trees are flying by me, and I can hear Ume's battle cries near._

'_Fuck. Where are our patrols?! They're supposed to be on watch now!'_

_I burst into the clearing, drawing my circlets and taking stance. She's surrounded by at least 10, and holding herself pretty well. Flipping and folding out of the way, using her blade to deflect and deal blows._

_Unnoticed yet, I go to flank. She rolls under a flying kick, and with a swipe of the sword, her opponent is cut from navel to neck. As he falls, two women fly towards Ume with a roar._

_I pierce the back of the group, twisting and slingshoting my way towards my sister. I cut one of the women down, and engage with a Goliath sized man to my right._

_Back to back, my sister and I mow through our enemies until the clearing is painted red._

_Panting, I turn to her, "—and what the hell is this? When I said you were on hunting detail today, I meant animals."_

_She looks towards me, pinning me with a glare,_

"_Not by choice Maya. I don't know what their motive was, I did nothing to provoke. I have a bad feeling about this, this was almost too easy." She motions to the bodies, "Look at their weapons, they're armed to the teeth."_

"_So, what are our options? A trap?"_

_She shakes her head, "I don't know, I think this is only a start"_

_Before I can reply, I hear screams in the distance._

_Oh. Horror filled realization dawns on me._

_A distraction._

_More screams sound and we take to the trees._

_We're halfway to home camp, when a familiar whistling sound passes an inch from my head, I duck beneath a slew of senbon and curse as a body drops on me. Sharp, burning pain in my stomach leaves no question as to what happened as I impact the floor below me._

'_FUCK!" I wildly look in Ume's direction where she has pause and started towards me, "Go! Keep going!"_

_I heave myself into a crouched position grip my stomach, and take in my attackers form._

_The woman is toned and scarred, with cruel taunting eyes. Obviously a fighter then. 'Of course. Perfect.'_

_She clicks her tongue, "Tsk. I meant to grab the both of you"_

"_You fucking dog!"_

_I gather chakra along my free hand, sharpening and refining it in a blink. 'Not ideal, but it'll have to do for now. I have maybe 20 minutes until I'm drained', grimacing, I pull my hand back and see blood staining my palm. 'Okay, maybe 10 minutes'_

"_Well?! Don't just fucking stand there. You wanted a fight? You've got one." _

_When I look back on this moment, I'll recall that the sound of screams are no more._

—

**Maya POV**

My eyes are heavy when I slant them open. Upon seeing dappled sunlight through branches, I immediately slam them shut again with a groan. 'Kami, how long has it been? I should be dead.'

I don't know how long I lay there, still and throbbing in pain, marveling at my state of living, until I hear shuffling footsteps and a gasp. My eyes fly open and I sit up with a snarl on my face but freeze when I see who approached me

"Kono?" but instead of his name only choked syllables and coughs came out, my voice rough with dryness and lack of use.

Small hands help me sit up and a flask is placed against my lips. I take a moment to drink greedily as my nephew holds me steady.

When I look up at him, I see his dark eyes, '_Ume's eyes', _looking at me with concern and relief.

"Easy, auntie. You're gonna open your wounds again. They've finally scabbed over, you know"

What? I look down and see fabric haphazardly wrapped around what I know personally to be a wide, deep slash.

"Did you do this? Where is your mother? Where is she?" Fearing the answer, I look at him. I can feel my stomach drop as his face crumples, haunted eyes shining looking to the ground.

"When she got to me, she had lost a lot of b-blood... She stalled them enough for me to find you..."

His voice trembles, and he closes his eyes, fist clenched into the fabric of his pants

"I-I'm so sorry, Aunty. I couldn't do a-a-anything." He chokes a sob back and I ignore the pain in my midsection and tug him into a hug

"Shhh," I coo, "You were not expected to be a hero. You have nothing to apologize for, Kono. You're going to be fine; I'll make sure of it. I promise you."

_My poor boy. How the gods have been cruel to you._

I run my hands through his dark hair and down his back in soothing motions, ignoring his shakes and tears seeping onto my shoulder as I myself let out a sob to the heavens, knowing the wetness on my face is not rain.


End file.
